The online shooter Destiny 2 is going through its weakest phase since at least 2019. In December 2024, Destiny has an average of only 24,560 players online on Steam – such low player numbers have never been recorded for Destiny 2 on Steam since its release in October 2019. This has implications for the playability of the content.
How bad is it? In the last 30 days, there have never been more than 40,000 players online at the same time on Steam. The average player count for Destiny 2 is 24,560. It has never been this bad before.
So far, Destiny has always managed to maintain over 30,000 average active players despite all its problems. Now it has clearly slipped below that mark. This is likely the lowest player count Destiny has ever had since its release in September 2014. We only know the player numbers from Steam, as Destiny only came to the PC platform in 2019 after parting ways with Activision Blizzard and leaving the Battle.net platform.
The low player count could have a snowball effect.
Players can no longer find a group for raids
What’s the problem? As more and more players quit Destiny, it becomes increasingly difficult for the remaining players to find groups with which they can tackle challenging content in the shooter. This sets off a “death spiral”: when players feel a game is dead, they play it less themselves, contributing to its further decline.
In Destiny 2, the problem is exacerbated by the fact that, compared to Destiny 1, there have always been fewer players participating in raids, the endgame content for PvE groups.
Recently, there was a post on reddit titled “Where has everyone gone?”, where a player described wanting to run a raid, but it took unusually long to find a team, even though it was a featured raid, he was looking on the weekend, and the raid had just received fresh loot.
Players responded to him:
- The player base is at a record low, and many players aren’t raiding in Destiny 2 anyway. Those who do raid have already acquired all the items they need.
- Other players added that they are currently playing “Path of Exile 2” and have found it as a replacement for Destiny 2.
- Users recommended he join a Discord group and look for teammates there or directly try group searches at the start of a reset.
In the summer, there were still over 300,000 players online, but the bad news hit
What’s behind it: 2024 is certainly marking a low point for Destiny and Bungie. Just from the company headquarters, there have been bad signals for the future of the game, as many people were let go and projects were canceled. The company appeared to be battered by the crisis and seemed unable to provide answers, at least not answers that instill confidence in the players.
Additionally, there’s currently a game in hype called Path of Exile 2, which, although entirely different from Destiny, still attracts the core audience due to the “loot and level” factor.
Destiny has now been running for 10 years and experiences valleys repeatedly. However, this year, the valley seems particularly deep. The question is whether Bungie will once again manage to break free from it – especially since it appears that more and more resources are lacking in game development. Currently, the shooter that once dominated gaming from September to December 2014 has become relatively quiet.
In June 2024, the peak player count was still 314,000 – but compared to earlier, most players stuck around for only a short time. While Destiny used to be played diligently for months, by 2024, player numbers had already shrunk to a normal level just a month later – it now looks dire: Destiny 2: The best people have been working on new Destiny for years – project is canceled, they are fired.
